Inspired by real life characters

As Milkha Singh promises to scorch the track and celluloid this week, he comes in a long line of Bollywood films inspired by real life characters. Very few films name their inspiration to avoid the obvious problems of lawsuits and outrages for cinema liberties taken but you have to be Rip Van Winkle not to recognize them!

We bring you Filmy Friday, a column by Diptakirti Chaudhuri.Diptakirti
Chaudhuri is crazy about Bollywood. In fact, he is crazy enough to have
written a book on Bollywood trivia. He can be found on Twitter and Blogger by his first name.

Dawood’s predecessor in Bombay’s underworld was Haji Mastan Mirza – a very charismatic character, who epitomized the honourable Don mould before the underworld became all murky. His life was the basis of what is widely called the ‘perfect screenplay’ – Deewaar. Amitabh Bachchan’s smouldering intensity lent unprecedented glamour to the character though both the subject and the writers refused to accept any links. Ajay Devgan played him in Once ... more

Dawood’s predecessor in Bombay’s underworld was Haji Mastan Mirza – a very charismatic character, who epitomized the honourable Don mould before the underworld became all murky. His life was the basis of what is widely called the ‘perfect screenplay’ – Deewaar. Amitabh Bachchan’s smouldering intensity lent unprecedented glamour to the character though both the subject and the writers refused to accept any links. Ajay Devgan played him in Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai and in an interesting scene, Kangana Ranaut’s character wondered if a film should be made on his life and an intense actor called Amit should play him. BONUS GOONS: Maya Dolas and Manya Surve were two small time goons in Mumbai underworld till Viveik Oberoi and John Abraham played them and got shot at Lokhandwala and Wadala respectively. less